‘It's hard to see the EFL completing the season’ admits chief executive of Blackpool’s League One rivals

The EFL have consistently stated it is their aim to conclude the current campaign when it is appropriate to do so amid the coronavirus crisis.

But that stance could soon be about to change, with EFL chairman Rick Parry admitting the completion of the season is in significant doubt.

Parry, appearing in front of the Digital, Culture and Media Sport committee on Tuesday, warned that the expiration of vast numbers of player contracts meant the season cannot realistically go beyond July 31 - otherwise clubs would face a “£200m hole” by September.

And Rochdale’s chief executive David Bottomley has conceded it is the view of the Spotland club that the campaign won’t be played to a finish.

He told BBC Radio Manchester: “Whether you null and void it, whether you award it on a points-per-game basis or whether you just reset for next year...I think the clubs would have to vote on that.

“We are very much behind the EFL at this football club, we’ve got great solidarity with clubs in League One and we would go with the majority.

“From a football club point of view, and we’ve had a recent board meeting, we can’t see it ending.

“That July 31 day is paramount because of players that are out of contract.”

With the EFL of the belief that 56 days are required to complete the season on the pitch, it means that decisions will need to be made shortly.

In a stark admission, Parry said that the approach being taken by the Premier League would simply not suffice for the three EFL divisions.

“The one plea I would make is that, which is a very sincere one, is that I think the Premier League and the government are working on a twin-track approach,” Parry said.

“Essentially, work out when it is safe to return to train, start training, and then take a decision on when it is safe to play. That absolutely does not work for us.

“We have to work backwards. Our end date is essentially July 31 due to the situation with player contracts. We can't go beyond July.”

“Players have been furloughed, staff have been furloughed,” he added.

“To expect clubs to bring people back into training now, only then to find they can't play in a month, would be a complete mess. We need to be making decisions within days.

“What we need is criteria on returning to play and we need it very quickly.”

Parry says that, at this stage, the desire does remain to resume when safe to do so.

“We want to resume playing, purely from the point of view of sporting integrity, when it is safe to do so,” he said.

“We want to make decisions based on hard fact and data rather than speculation.

“We'll return when the government says it is safe and sets the criteria.

“We'll do so in a way that makes sure all our players are safe and healthy, and there is no stress on the NHS, frontline services and emergency workers.”